Quote:
Rest in Peace (4) : While making your way through Destiny City, you wind up taking a path you’ve never taken before. Maybe you’re following directions, maybe you got lost, maybe you were just looking for a shortcut—things were going well, until you wind up needing to pass through a graveyard. It seems normal enough—until you pass by a grave and get a powerful chill down your spine. When you stop and look at it, you see the gravestone has your name; beneath it, your birthday and today’s date. If you leave and return, the gravestone remains, but the name and dates look like they’ve been clawed off.
((Word Count: 840))
Halloween was both the busiest time of the year for him considering his hobby but also for his job. People tended to get hurt a lot more often as the weather got colder, at least it seemed to be the case. It also didn’t help that this was Destiny City, every season has its own madness but fall, and Halloween itself, was much much worse. So finding, or rather being flat out told to go home, a day off was abnormal. Granted the whole reason he was given time off was some particularly bad calls so he took the time off and went for a run. Pat used running as a way to destress. To take his mind off of the bad things he had seen, even done once or twice. His job wasn’t an easy one, that was for sure. Not as an Emergency Medical Technician nor as a knight. Honestly the knight, or squire to be more accurate, was a bit more straightforward. It was mostly fighting things that went bump in the night, or officers that were straight off their rocker. And he still ended up helping many of his order brethren by patching them up as best he could. Dealing with normal civilians was so much harder… and more annoying.
So he took a little trip for one of his day’s off. He took a drive out of the city and to one of the nearby state parks. It wasn’t a large one but it had great trails for both bike and horseback riding but also good walking and jogging trails. It wasn’t a good one for camping though which was a shame but that didn’t matter since he was there for running not camping.
With headphones in, the music on just loud enough to help him focus but not loud enough he couldn’t hear what was going on around him, Pat set off. He zoned out, not realizing that he was practically alone in the whole park. The redhead had made two circuits of the main path and on his third lap he spotted a different path and decided to take it. It was likely a new one that they added to keep things interesting. It was an easy path too. No real major elevation changes, a few tight turns but nothing seriously bad, overall a good path.
He ran himself deeper and deeper on the path, only noticing belatedly that the light was fading rather fast, it was fall after all. Pat realized this as he stumbled upon a small wrought iron fence that the running path went right through. It was instantly clear that the fence, and the small clearing beyond it, was a graveyard. An old one too if the worne stones were any indication. He didn’t like it. He really didn’t but he had no choice, the other side of the path was right there across the clearing and he had to be close to the end. It had to meet back up with the main path and as dark was rapidly approaching Pat knew he didn’t have any other options. Turning back would take too long. Besides, it was just an old graveyard. Not a big deal at all.
Keeping that in mind the redhead made his way into the fenced in area, he wasn’t running as it felt disrespectful, but he wasn’t moving at a snail's pace either. He was more than halfway through the normal, if in the middle of nowhere, graveyard when a chill down his spine had him freezing in place, pulling his earbuds out to better hear. Purple eyes raked the surroundings, taking in the rapidly lengthening shadows, the leafless trees, and the worn gravestones. Nothing there…. Nothing out of place, other than himself that is. Something drew his eye to the faded words on the closet headstone. Patrick O’Ryan
“Strange,” He muttered as he leaned down to read further. The ephatat was too worn to read but the birthday and death date were clear as day… his birthday… and today’s date.
With a curse he stood upright and instantly started to scan his surroundings again. “Nope… NOPE! Nope, nope, nope!” Not bothering to stick around any longer nor remain at a respectful pace Pat took off running at full speed out of the graveyard. It was probably some trick of the light but he wasn’t sticking around to get a better look. Nothing in the known universe could convince him to stay.
By the time he made it back to the main path he was flat out pelting down through the trees and was out of breath once he made it back to his car. Full dark had fallen by then and the lot lights were the only illumination. Pat quickly got in his car and started it up. He would have sworn that someone was chuckling in the darkness of the trees as he drove away. Someone that knew exactly what he had run from.
Someone…. Or….
Something.
